Tigress (DC Comics)

Tigress is the name of three different comic book supervillains, all of whom have appeared in various series published by DC Comics. The first Golden Age Tigress was a thief/spy and foe of Zatara in the late 1930s. She debuted in Action Comics #1 (June 1938), and was created by Fred Guardineer. She wore tiger-striped sweaters and ran gangs of thieves and murderers. She apparently had no powers. The second Tigress is Paula Brooks, who was a member of the Young All-Stars, who later became a villainess named the Huntress. The third Tigress is Artemis Crock, the daughter of the second Tigress, and is a member of the Injustice Society; of the three characters, she has been most substantially adapted into other media, appearing as a main character and a heroine in the 2011 cartoon series Young Justice voiced by Stephanie Lemelin.

Fictional character biography

Brooks

The original Golden Age Tigress who is said to be the mother of Paula Brooks and the grandmother of Artemis Crock.

The original Tigress appeared as Zatara's primary foe throughout several issues of Action Comics, including issues 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 22, 23, 30, 35, and 42. In her initial appearance, she battles Zatara and his assistant Tong while attempting to rob a freight train. She escapes and later resurfaces in stories using various methods in attempts to kill wealthy men, including using an attacking airplane, poisoning their drinks, and infecting them with a disease from a rare South American insect. She also uses her influence as a mob boss to pressure other criminals into assisting her in crime sprees, which usually involve bank robberies and thefts of other valuables.

The Artemis entry in Who's Who Update '87 #1 states that the Golden Age Tigress is the mother of Paula Brooks (the second Tigress and original Huntress) and the grandmother of Artemis Crock (the third Tigress). However, Who's Who Update '87 #5 states that neither Paula Brooks or Artemis Crock are related to her.

Paula Brooks

The second Tigress is Paula Brooks. She was a member of the Young All-Stars and later became the villainous Huntress. She later married the Sportsmaster, and had a daughter, Artemis Crock, who becomes the third Tigress.

Artemis Crock

Artemis Crock is the daughter of the Golden Age villains Paula Brooks and Crusher Crock. She had taken up a career in crime, modeled after that of her parents, but only after some years did she take on the mantle of Tigress.

During the DC mini-series Legends, the people of America were turned against heroes, and law was made that no one could operate legally wearing a costume. This did not affect the villains much, as they were already breaking the law. For Artemis Crock it proved an opportune time to break her parents out of the Empire State Detention Center. Calling herself only Artemis she joined the Wizard in his new Injustice Society – which he called Injustice Unlimited. They overcame the security at the International Trade Conference in Calgary, Canada, namely Infinity, Inc. and a contingent of the Global Guardians and forced the heroes to help in some mayhem. For Artemis, she took Nuklon and Rising Sun to New York and, with their help, freed the elder felons. They all returned to Calgary to share in the stolen wealth but the plan went haywire when Hourman revived and freed himself, as well as when Solomon Grundy was brought in from the Arctic Circle. It was Solomon who incapacitated Artemis and her parents, but in the confusion they were able to escape. ^[1]

Only weeks later Artemis again joined with the Icicle and Hazard, as well as the new Harlequin, the Dummy and Solomon Grundy. The Dummy wanted to head a revived Injustice Unlimited and planned to murder the members of Inifinity Inc to make a name for themselves. Their first target - Skyman - was successfully killed by the Harlequin and then Artemis went after Jade. After believing her dead, Artemis returned to her cohorts. A plan was hatched to bring all the remaining Infinitors to Stellar Studios and kill them, a plan defeated only by the unwillingness of Hazard to cooperate, and the sudden reappearance of Jade and Brainwave Jr (both of whom had been thought dead). During the fight Artemis went one-on-one with Wildcat (Yolanda Montez) and lost. In the end Artemis was given over to law enforcement. ^[2]

Artemis later changed her codename to Tigress and became the on-again, off-again lovers with the second Icicle. He invited her back into the reformation of the Injustice Society. She helped him, Wizard, Solomon Grundy, Gentleman Ghost, Rag Doll and Thinker break into JSA headquarters and steal the Prometheus Key, a key that is used to open doors between reality and magic. This allowed Johnny Sorrow who had asked the Wizard to bring him back, to re-enter the earth.

During the Infinite Crisis storyline, Artemis appeared as a member of Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains. She later appeared in the Justice League Wedding Special.

Icicle and Tigress later alternately work with and against Hourman and Liberty Belle in a quest to locate a magical artifact.^[3] Currently they are expecting a baby, which appears to threaten Tigress' health. Icicle is trying to 'raise' money for expensive treatments.^[4]

The New 52

A new version of Artemis appeared in The New 52 universe of DC Comics in the "Culling" crossover. Here, she is a human with no powers, but has been trained to be a strong fighter. She helps the Teen Titans get their bearings before the Culling begins and introduces them to other meta-teens that Harvest has collected. After the Titans are taken, a member of Harvest's crew tries to put her in a state of rage. She fights back and refuses to kill other kids, but instead is killed. Her death helps motivate the Teen Titans and the Legion Lost to join together to take down Harvest.^[5] At the end of the series, in Teen Titans Annual #3 the Titans discover that Artemis was healed by the Colonel of Harvest's facility, as part of a second phase of Harvest's plans.

Powers and abilities

Artemis Crock

Tigress has superhuman fighting skills and is highly trained. She is an expert marksman with her crossbow. She has an enhanced sense of smell that allows her to track individuals. She carries a compact crossbow and a quiver of arrows, knives, nets and bolas.

In other media

Television

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Artemis Crock (in a Tigress costume) makes a small cameo in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!". She is seen taking a family vacation with her parents, Sportsmaster and Huntress.

Young Justice

Artemis Crock as Artemis in Young Justice.

A teenaged version of Artemis Crock appears as one of the main characters in Young Justice, where she is voiced by Stephanie Lemelin and uses the superhero identity of Artemis. Unlike the comics where Artemis is depicted as a Caucasian supervillain, here she is portrayed as a biracial (half-Vietnamese) vigilante. Her identity is a mystery to the characters in the show, but has been revealed to viewers via a letter she received in the eighth episode which contains her full name, Artemis Lian Crock.

She first appears in the episode "Infiltrator", where she is introduced as Green Arrow's niece and new sidekick, who is brought in to join the team following the departure of Green Arrow's original sidekick, Roy Harper. During her first mission with the team, she faces off against Cheshire, and ultimately reveals that she knows the assassin from some past encounter. Though she attempts to apprehend the villain, Cheshire blackmails Artemis into releasing her, threatening to tell Artemis's teammates some potentially damaging information she knows about her. At the end of the episode, she is confronted by Roy, who tells her that he knows that she is not really Green Arrow's niece, and that Batman must have some good reason for wanting her on the team. In the episode "Downtime", it is revealed that Artemis lives in Gotham City with her mother Paula (who is depicted as a disabled Asian woman and voiced by Kelly Hu - later revealed to have spent some time in prison for her crimes as Huntress). In the episode "Bereft" Artemis wakes up with no memory of the last six months. When asked if she knew how to use her bow Artemis responds that her father taught her to use it. In the episode "Homefront", her connection to Cheshire is expanded revealing she is her older sister and that they have a potentially abusive father, who is later revealed to be Sportsmaster. In episode "Secrets", Artemis and Zatanna team-up to defeated Harm with the help of Secret. Later, Roy announcing Batman, Red Tornado, Robin and Aqualad to Artemis' secret after were participated meeting about the mole. In the episode "Insecurity", after Roy clearly hints that he believes Artemis a mole because she tried to sabotage the mission, Artemis is visited in her room by Sportsmaster, her father. He tries to persuade her that she does not belong with the team, that she cannot evade her family's legacy, and that he knows that one day she will come to the bad side. In the episode "Usual Suspects", Artemis eventually reveals the secret about her family to the team while stating that her mother is an ex-con while her father and sister are still criminals. Robin tells her that he knew all along who her family was, but that it did not matter as she was not her family, but a member of the team.

In the second season episode "Salvage" she is shown to be living with Wally, and that the two have retired from their superhero identities. In the episode "Bloodlines", Artemis is mentioned; when Red Arrow and Cheshire are trying to infitrate a Tibetan monastery, Lian's squeals alert the guards to their presence. Red Arrow states "Told you we should have left her with your sister." In "Depths" she rejoins the team and is "killed" by Kaldur. Later, we find out that her death was faked so that they could learn more about the Light and their mysterious new partner. A holographic memorial of her is present in Mount Justice as seen in "Satisfaction". In "Darkest", Artemis joins Kaldur on a strike team (which also includes Icicle and the Terror Twins) in an attack on Mount Justice, disguised as a new villain called "Tigress". After Mount Justice is destroyed and Blue Beetle, Beast Boy and Impulse are captured, Nightwing reveals that Kaldur and Artemis had left a signal for the team to follow so they could rescue the Light's captive metahumans. In the episode "Before the Dawn," she oversees a new shipment of teens for the Reach, which Batgirl and Robin infiltrate. Later in the episode, Miss Martian discovers the truth after launching a telepahtic attack that renders Aqualad comatose, and she and Artemis speak for a brief moment before she carrys Aqualad's body away. Artemis then accompanies Aqualad in his semi-catatonic state to protect him from the Light. Kaldur's father Black Manta attempts to heal his son by recruiting Psimon, and Artemis is forced incapacitate him to maintain their cover; she passes off the incident as result of a mental booby-trap left in Aqualad's mind by Miss Martian. She then assists Deathstroke in kidnapping Miss Martian to rebuild Kaldur's mind, and later assists her friend in escaping, despite the untimely intervention of Sportsmaster and Chesire. Her ruse is discovered in "Summit" by Ra's al Ghul. She temporarily dons her old costume and name, but following Wally's death in "Endgame" rejoins the team as Tigress.

Video Games

Artemis Crock is a playable character in the video game Young Justice: Legacy with Stephanie Lemelin reprising her role.

References

External links

Foe of Zatara

• Comic Book Database: Tigress I
• The Unofficial Tigress I Biography

Artemis Crock

• Artemis Crock: The Complete History
• Comic Book Database: Tigress III
• Cosmic Team Profile
• Hawkman Villains Profile
• Tigress Rap Sheet
• The Unofficial Tigress III Biography